Election panel still has 4 vacancies

With November polls a little over six months away, the Commonwealth Election Commission still needs to fill four important vacancies: executive director and three board members.

Board chair Frances Sablan said yesterday the commission needs to fill these four positions to ensure the smooth flow of operations during the Nov. 7 elections.

Since the election of former CEC executive director Gregorio “Kilili” Sablan to the U.S. Congress as CNMI representative, the position has remained vacant, with Julita Villagomez serving as acting executive director.

Frances Sablan said the board will name a permanent executive director when it convenes a meeting this week.

As of Friday, the commission has already received two applications for the post, Saipan Tribune learned. Sablan declined to identify the applicants.

“We’re going to review the applications and then hopefully decide in this week’s meeting who will be our next executive director,” she said.

The nine-member board of commissioners has three positions each for Rota, Saipan, and Tinian.

Also this week, Sablan said they scheduled a swearing in ceremony for the reappointed member from Tinian, Joe Kiyoshi.

“We still have two vacant posts on the board and we will ask the governor for his appointments before the election,” she said.

These vacancies were the positions held by former commissioners Miranda Manglona of Rota and Melvin Sablan from Saipan. Other members of the election board include Josepha Barcinas, Elizabeth Dlg. Aldan, Jose Itibus, Jesus Sablan, and Donald Hofschneider.

Election law changes

The board chairwoman disclosed yesterday that the commission has no position yet on the Legislature’s proposal to change election rules governing absentee ballots.

The deadline for comments was last Friday.

Authored by Rota Sen. Paul Manglona, Senate Bill 16-22 calls for amendments to the election law, which the lawmaker described as “outdated and an unnecessary barrier” to the exercise.

The legislation wants the CNMI to establish uniformity in the processing of absentee voting and to further clarify ambiguities in the CNMI election law.

“The commissioners still need to discuss this proposal and solicit their comments if there’s a need for us to pass a comment,” she said.

However, Sablan admitted that changes in the election rules may take some time as it will require a thorough analysis and study by the commission.

Earlier, Sablan said a runoff in the general election is inevitable as five team candidates—two from the same party—have already announced their bids.

These candidates include the tandems of Benigno R. Fitial and Eloy Inos, Covenant; Juan T. Guerrero and Joseph Camacho, Independent; Ramon Guerrero and David Borja, Independent; Juan Babauta and Galvin Deleon Guerrero, Republican; and Heinz Hofscheider and Arnold Palacios, Republican.

The Republican Party has set a primary between the contending gubernatorial candidates in June to determine the party’s official standard-bearer.